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Video: Standoff near Cairo’s US Embassy ends

Closed captioning of: Standoff near Cairo’s US Embassy ends

>>>things are much quieter though the
middle east
remains a
tinder box
after several days of anti-american demonstrations, at times turning violent. at this hour the
state department
and the military are taking efforts to step up security at
u.s. embassies
across the region. jim maceda joins us from cairo. good evening.

>> reporter: hello, lester. the
state department
is closing embassies temporarily in sudan and yemen warning of travel risks in those countries and in tunisia where americans are encouraged to leave as worries about more violent protests escalate. a four-day standoff outside the
u.s. embassy
in cairo ended this morning. when
riot police
charged the protesters and cleared out out tahrir square. the city began to return to normal as did the country with no reported protests or violence. friday's
day of rage
spread across more than 20 countries. in tunisia today local citizens and security personnel surveyed damaged cars and buildings at the
u.s. embassy
now protected by
armored vehicles
while a
u.s. marine
rapid response team took up positions at yemen's charred
u.s. embassy
and western hotels. it wasn't all quiet. as far away acs sydney, australia, hundreds protested outside the u.s. consulate saying
america
had defiled their religion.

>>we are defending our prophet's honor.

>> reporter: with the whole
middle east
in crisis
pope benedict xvi
offered a message of peace today on a rare visit to lebanon where he said people of different faiths now live together. but in the
arab world
, anger runs deeper than religion and
america
is a
lightning rod
.

>>everyone has something against it. so whenever something relates to
america
happens, everyone is just all fired up.

>> reporter: even after the arab spring which the u.s. embraced,
america
is disliked and mistrusted and not just by muslim militants.

>>a lot of
ordinary people
say why do you support our dictators.

>> reporter: some egyptians said they were beginning to change their mind about
america
until the anti-islam
film clip
appeared on the internet. now as american embassies and symbols become targets around the world the
state department
is taking no chances.